Heroin dealer sentenced in fatal overdose case

WEST CHESTER – A Delaware County man who was the target of a crafty sting by Westtown-East Goshen was sentenced to a state prison term in Common Pleas Court Friday.

Joshua Thomas Brown, 21, of Yeadon admitted as part of a plea agreement that he had sold heroin to 26-year-old Joseph Graf in May just before Graf was found dead in his apartment of an apparent overdose. Brown was lured back to the apartment some weeks later by text messages from Graf’s phone asking for more heroin.

The texts, however, came from Detective Sgt. William Cahill, a veteran narcotics officer with the WEGO police department. Cahill asked Brown, who was known as “Eddie” in his previous texts to Graf, to bring him some “Shark” heroin.

On June 14, Brown was taken into custody by WEGO police in the parking lot outside Graf’s former home. He had with him multiple bags of “Shark” heroin when arrested.

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Brown pleaded guilty in front of Judge David Bortner to two counts of felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and was sentenced to a prison term of three to six years.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher deBarrena-Sarobe, who prosecuted the case, said that his office had weighed strongly the possibility that Brown could have been charged with the crime of drug delivery resulting in death. That crime, classified as a third-degree murder, carries with it a mandatory sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

However, because Graf had a combination of other drugs in his system at the time of his death it could not be proven that the heroin Brown sold him, and which he had apparently just used, was the specific cause of his death, the prosecutor said.

“Because of the mixture of drugs in his system, our office was not able to pursue the drug delivery resulting in death charge,” deBarrena-Sarobe told Bortner in explaining the plea and sentence. “But this is a case my office took very seriously, working extensively with Detective Cahill, and I think this is a very good resolution.”

He noted that Brown had cooperated with police as soon as he was arrested and took responsibility for the heroin deliveries both in May and in June.

At the time of Brown’s arrest, county District Attorney Tom Hogan called the crime, “a grim reminder that the dangers of drug dealing and drug addiction can penetrate anywhere into Chester County.”

Assistant Public Defender Lauren Holt, who represented Brown and worked out the terms of the agreement with deBarrena-Sarobe, said that Graf, 26, a Delaware County native known to his friends as “Fender Bender,” had a combination of marijuana, Oxycodone, morphine, and cocaine in his system when he died.

Bortner told Brown he was lucky that authorities could not link the heroin he admitted selling directly to Graf’s death. He said his sentence would almost certainly have been harsher had they been able to do so.

The investigation began when members of the Westtown-East Goshen Police Department responded to the Heather Glen Apartments on West Chester Pike to investigate a fatal drug overdose. Graf was found with a cord tied around his arm and a nearby syringe, along with a packet stamped “Amtrak” on it that had traces of heroin.

Police recovered Graf’s cell phone and discovered text messages discussing the sale of heroin, according to a criminal complaint filed by police, naming the product as “Amtrak,” according to deBarrena-Sarobe.

Some days later, Cahill used the phone to contact Brown and arrange a meeting to receive a delivery of more heroin at the apartment complex, police said.

The arrangements were made and on June 14, Brown, who was unaware of the fatal overdose, arrived at the complex to make the sale. Undercover officers were waiting, and Brown attempted to flee on foot when he saw police were waiting for him. He was quickly caught, police said.